RE: /bin/pwd -P doesn't expand all symlinks

["Nellis, Kenneth" <Kenneth dot Nellis at xerox dot com>]

> From: Mark O'Keefe
> 
> Hi,
> 
> While using /bin/pwd -P to expand directories to get the absolute, non-
> symlinked version of the directory I discovered that this doesn't work on
> Cygwin as I believe it is meant to work.
> 
> 
> $ cd /tmp
> $ /bin/pwd -P
> /tmp
> $ ln -s /home .
> $ cd home
> $ /bin/pwd -P
> /home
> $ pwd
> /tmp/home
> $ mkdir dummy
> $ cd dummy
> $ pwd
> /tmp/home/dummy
> $ /bin/pwd -P
> /tmp/home/dummy
> 
> NOTE:  That last command should have returned "/home/dummy".  It hasn't
> expanded the parent symbolic link as you would have expected it to do.
> 
> For what I'm doing I need the physical path, not the symbolic path (which
> is what the -P is meant to provide).
> 
> Please confirm if I'm correct in my understanding?  I've tested this on
> Ubuntu and it works as I'd expect it...
> 
> Now having to create an alternative approach to get the correct answer
> while I wait for this to be fixed (assuming it is a bug as I believe it
> is).
> 
> Thanks in advance for any help in resolving this.
> 
> Cheers,
> Mark.

FWIW, WJJFM:

$ cd /tmp
$ /bin/pwd -P
/tmp
$ ln -s /home .
$ cd home
/tmp/home
$ /bin/pwd -P
/home
$ pwd
/tmp/home
$ mkdir dummy
$ cd dummy
/tmp/home/dummy
$ pwd
/tmp/home/dummy
$ /bin/pwd -P
/home/dummy
$ uname -srvmo
CYGWIN_NT-6.1 2.2.1(0.289/5/3) 2015-08-20 11:42 x86_64 Cygwin
$

--Ken Nellis

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